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U.S. Scientists Win Nobel Prize for Medicine

U.S. scientists Andrew Fire and Craig Mello on Monday were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discovering "RNA interference," a method of disabling the effects of specific genes, the AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Genes produce their effect by sending molecules called messenger RNA to the protein-producing mechanism in the cell. RNA interference destroys the RNA and prevents the protein from being produced.

Fire, of Stanford University, and Mello, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, published their work in 1998. The technique has since been used to study the function of genes and has been tested as a treatment for viral infections, heart disease, cancer and several other conditions.

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Monday reported on the 2006 Nobel Prize winners. The segment includes comments from William Hahn of the Broad Institute of MIT and Mello (Knox, "All Things Considered," NPR, 10/2).

The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. Expanded NPR coverage is available online.